Within the municipality, various challenges exist where digital technology can play a role, such as improving livability, healthcare, education, and mobility. It is crucial to develop technology in a way that ensures privacy and autonomy, prevents exclusion, and upholds ethical principles. The responsible development and application of digital technology are essential for the city. At the same time, the city provides the research group with an important platform for innovation through direct interaction with its residents.

We critically examine digital technology and develop guidelines and tools to shape it based on societal values such as autonomy, inclusion, diversity, non-discrimination, and sustainability. We do this through hands-on research, tackling real-world challenges in close collaboration with citizens, programmers, designers, activists, professionals, civil servants, students, and educators.

Our three research areas

1. Responsible Digital Technology
   We explore how digital technology can be explicitly designed and developed based on societal values by actively creating digital solutions.
2. Tools for Responsible Design, Development, and Use
   We investigate how to provide designers and users of digital technology with practical tools to shape and use technology responsibly. These tools can include guidelines as well as measurement instruments, such as tools for assessing a digital system’s carbon footprint.
3. Interpretation and Demystification of Digital Technology
   This research area focuses on examining the real-world effects of technologies like generative AI. It also involves initiatives to clarify what technology can and cannot do, as well as its potential societal impacts. These efforts include lectures, courses, and interactive installations aimed at raising public awareness.

Responsible AI Lab

Within the Responsible IT research group, the Responsible AI Lab specifically focuses on the responsible design and application of AI in the creative sector and ICT. The Responsible AI Lab is one of the seven AI labs at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), all united under the Centre of Expertise Applied AI.

Collaboration partners

The Responsible IT research group engages with a diverse range of stakeholders, including students, educators, and professionals in design, data analysis, ICT, and ethics, as well as residents of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The research group is part of a long-term collaboration between the HvA and the Municipality of Amsterdam, built on shared values and a joint vision for the responsible development and deployment of digital technology.

The city serves as a vital innovation platform, allowing direct interaction with residents. Additionally, we collaborate with IT companies, design agencies, and technology startups, as well as social organizations and government bodies to drive responsible technological development.